If you’re like many people who love coffee beverages of all types, you’ve probably ordered a frappe from a coffee shop, fast-food restaurant, and other locations. However, it might be time to learn how to make a frappe in a blender so that you can enjoy this delicious beverage at home and can control the ingredients that you use.
Before learning how to make them, it is important to know what they are. Of course, you’ve probably tasted them, but that doesn’t mean you know how they’re made.
What Is a Frappe?
In short, a frappe is an iced coffee-style beverage, which has been blended, shaken, or beaten to produce a foamy, tasty drink. It is always served cold, and it usually comes with various toppings and/or whipped cream.
You add ice before or after beating the drink and then add customized additives, including sweet sauces, vanilla, sugar, or milk. You can make them using a variety of tools, but we’ll stick with learning how to make it in a blender since this is a common tool found in kitchens.
How Frappes Differ from Smoothies
Many people know that frappes are similar to iced coffee and smoothies, but there are distinct differences. For one, the frappe is blended a little longer to create more solid foam. Also, the ice is blended well, so you don’t get chunks of it in the beverage. Additionally, smoothies tend to be blended to a shaved-ice consistency, while frappes are blended smooth.
Both, of course, are cold and refreshing!
How to Make a Frappe in a Blender
Now that you are more familiar with frappes, it's time to learn how to make it using your blender.
Ingredients
Before you learn how to make a delicious frappe in a blender, you need to make sure that you have all the ingredients you’ll need. The bare minimum is to have 1.5 cups of chilled coffee, 0.5 cups of milk, 1.5 cups of ice, and two tablespoons of sugar. You can choose to add other things such as honey, creamer, and chocolate.
- Coffee
Before you can make a frappe, you need to make about 1.5 cups of coffee. You can use your favorite brand and brewing method, such as drip coffee makers and French presses.
In general, you should use about four tablespoons of coffee per six ounces of water. You can also use a cold-brew coffee concentrate if you prefer. If you choose the cold-brew method, you’ll need 1.5 cups of it.
You can use instant coffee, as well, but if you don’t normally drink instant coffee, you’re likely to taste the difference and may not enjoy the frappe as much.
Once you have the coffee, chill it in the refrigerator for a few hours until it is cold. You never want to pour hot coffee into a blender with ice; the ice will melt, and you won’t get the frappe consistency you crave.
- Sweeteners
Most people use sugar to sweeten their coffee, but you can use any sweetener desired. Since frappe is considered to be a sweet treat, you may want to use more sugar than you’d normally use for a cup of coffee. It can be helpful to add the sugar or sweetener to the hot coffee to ensure that it all dissolves.
- Ice
Something should be said about the ice you use. Most people prefer to use distilled water to make the ice because they claim it tastes better.
However, you can try brewing the hot coffee, pouring it into ice trays, and freezing it (about two hours). That way, you’ve got a frozen coffee, and you don’t need to add more ice or worry about watering down your frappe.
Procedure
Now that you’ve got all the ingredients, the coffee is chilled, and you’ve decided whether or not to use ice or "coffee" ice, you’re now ready to learn how to make a frappe in a blender.
The first step is to get your blender out from its storage. Plug it in, and make sure you have all the parts (lid, lid opening cover, blades) at hand, and it works. Add the ingredients, including the milk and chilled coffee.
If you’re using ice, make sure to put it in now. If you made coffee ice cubes, you don’t need to add more ice.
It’s best to start with 1.5 cups of ice. You can add more if needed to get the right consistency, but if you add too much, the coffee becomes diluted, and it won’t make a tasty frappe.
Start the blending process on low speed and work upwards to low-medium or medium speed (depending on your blender settings). Blend the concoction until it is smooth. If you want it to be thicker, consider adding a bit more ice.
- Immersion Blending
Some people only have immersion blenders (hand-held blenders). It is not recommended to make frappes with an immersion blender because they have trouble breaking up the ice cubes.
Nevertheless, you can choose to crush the ice in a plastic bag before adding it to the cup. It will work, but you must work quickly so that the ice doesn’t melt, or you won’t get the frappe consistency you want.
Final Words
Now that you know about frappe and the steps involved in making one, you may wonder what to do with your new beverage. Of course, you can drink it just the way it is, but you can also add a variety of flavorings to the concoction.
You can add chocolate, hazelnuts, and almost any other treat you’d like. Peanut butter is delicious, too. You can also experiment with various extracts (vanilla, peppermint, etc.). You can also use spices such as pumpkin spice, nutmeg, cinnamon, and a mixture of various spices. Depending on the season, you can have a lot of fun with this.
Finally, you may want to have a glass of cold water on hand; when you’re finished drinking the beverage, you can add a touch of water, mix it up with the foam, and enjoy every last drop. You should also consider savoring the beverage; it’s made with ice, and it is cold, so you don’t want to get brain-freeze!